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What is your favorite cook's treat?
When my husband grills he sops up the juices on top of the steaks with bread then snacks on the bread. More than once I've had to stop him from doing that on MY steak. I think it dries it out.
@bobcat...I'm with you on the cinnamon sugar pie doughs. My mom taught me how to make them and I taught my children. Scrumptious!
Thanksgiving disasters (funny only in hindsight)
Nothing recently but in our early years of marriage we invited my in-laws for Thanksgiving. My husband and I were taking the turkey out of the oven when we lost control of it and it went skidding across the vinyl kitchen floor and into the dining room. Our cat, who'd been known to stalk and bring home mice, rabbits, even a dead crow or two, went after it with a vengeance. We grabbed the cat, salvaged the turkey and rinsed it off. We'd just finished cleaning the floor when in-laws pulled into the driveway.
Thanksgiving's over. What's on the table for Christmas?
Christmas Eve
Homemade crock pot soup
Sandwiches
Christmas Breakfast/Brunch
Breakfast casserole
Blueberry muffins
Juice & Coffee
Christmas Dinner
Standing prime rib roast
Yorkshire pudding - both vegetarian and carnivore versions
A nut roast - for the vegetarians
Mashed potatoes
Roasted veggies
(Other good stuff as requested)
Cookies & vanilla ice cream for dessert
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
PB and J?
Soft wheat bread, creamy peanut butter spread thinly on both pieces of bread, and strawberry jam in the center. Exquisite.
What is your favorite cook's treat?
When my husband grills he sops up the juices on top of the steaks with bread then snacks on the bread. More than once I've had to stop him from doing that on MY steak. I think it dries it out.
@bobcat...I'm with you on the cinnamon sugar pie doughs. My mom taught me how to make them and I taught my children. Scrumptious!
Thanksgiving disasters (funny only in hindsight)
Nothing recently but in our early years of marriage we invited my in-laws for Thanksgiving. My husband and I were taking the turkey out of the oven when we lost control of it and it went skidding across the vinyl kitchen floor and into the dining room. Our cat, who'd been known to stalk and bring home mice, rabbits, even a dead crow or two, went after it with a vengeance. We grabbed the cat, salvaged the turkey and rinsed it off. We'd just finished cleaning the floor when in-laws pulled into the driveway.
Thanksgiving's over. What's on the table for Christmas?
Christmas Eve
Homemade crock pot soup
Sandwiches
Christmas Breakfast/Brunch
Breakfast casserole
Blueberry muffins
Juice & Coffee
Christmas Dinner
Standing prime rib roast
Yorkshire pudding - both vegetarian and carnivore versions
A nut roast - for the vegetarians
Mashed potatoes
Roasted veggies
(Other good stuff as requested)
Cookies & vanilla ice cream for dessert
I can make ___ but I almost always buy it.
Bread. And homemade cinnamon rolls. Grew up on them (large family). When my own children were young I bought a bread machine, although kneading is great for relieving stress. But then the kids insisted on growing up and leaving for college. (Ungrateful, don't you think?) I can't make bread in small enough quantities to stay fresh for only two people. So now the bread machine left us, too, and I buy it at bakeries and grocery stores. So sad.
So, What Did You Make?
We had a small group. Extended meal time with lots of good conversation.
Appetizers early on -
A variety of cheeses & wheat thins
Hot spinach dip with tortilla chips
Dinner
A nice Napa Valley white wine
Roast turkey and gravy - for the carnivores
Glazed tofurkey - for the vegetarians
Mashed potatoes
Apple-walnut-celery stuffing
Green beans with almonds (compliments of BirdsEye - tradition!)
Glazed sweet potatoes (real, not canned)
Cranberries
Brown n Serve Pepperidge Farm rolls (more tradition!)
Dessert
Pies - Apple and Pumpkin (favorites)
Coffee
Crap Economy May Kill 'Restaurants'
What about diner? Menu is broad but filled with good home-style type cooking. Comfort food, and isn't that what we all want since no one is cooking anymore?
Sara Garrigan
http://valleybreakfast.wordpress.com
PB and J?
Whole wheat bread, crunchy all-natural peanut butter and banana grilled without butter on a George Foreman grill.
PB and J?
I must confess, a spoon of pb dipped into the nutella jar, is about as good as it gets. Another fav, the spoon full of pb pressed into a bowl of Quaker "OH's" cereal, however many stick to the pb take a ride to digestion.
What is your favorite cook's treat?
@lorelei that sounds good, will try that when do poached chicken.
What is your favorite cook's treat?
Chicken skins - when I cook for my health conscious friends and make chicken breasts (usually poached), I poach the meat with the skin, then take off the skin before serving...
...and I fry that skin up till it's crisp. Then I sprinkle with some delicious salt, a pinch of pepper and eat with a thick dipping sauce made of lime juice, more salt and chopped up chili. HOLY CRAP.
I am not ashamed to admit that I invite the health conscious friends over a whole lot just so I can have a pile o'skins to snack on.
What is your favorite cook's treat?
Poultry skin.
Leftover sauce/gravy, preferably a little congealed so I can eat it with a finger.
Cheese bits.
Bread dough.
Testing while cooking, particularly fondue. Once the fondue was perfect as I was melting it over low heat on the stove but I had a can of Sterno that was too big so the fondue that actually got eaten from the pot was burned. Still good (umami?!) but while I was testing I got the best part. =)
What is your favorite cook's treat?
I would happily roast a whole chicken just for access to the drippings, some skin, the whole carcass and the oysters. Good lord. I even love the wee parson's nose, or tail bit that's all fatty and plump.
THe movie 'Amelie' had the most luscious description of poultry oysters. I come from a third world family of bone crunchers, marrow suckers and carcass pickers. It's the best part of a chicken, hands down. YOu cna keep your boring breast meat.
PB and J?
If I can manage to get the nutella to anything, I would schmeer it on anything.
PB and J?
mmmmm I LOVE peanut butter sandwiches, my favorites:
1. 100% whole wheat dense bread (un-toasted) with crunchy all natural peanut butter and all natural strawberry or raspberry preserves with whole lot in the middle (chunks and seeds please). :)
2. 100% whole wheat dense bread (un-toasted) with creamy all natural peanut butter with honey and 1 sliced banana.
3. (for breakfast) 1 slice sprouted grain raisin bread, toasted, with all natural creamy peanut butter with 1 sliced banana.
AND these all must be eaten with a nice tall glass of milk (either skim or whole, nothing in between please) and a bendy straw. The masterpiece must be cut into 2 triangles (crusts either not eaten at all when made with the jam or eaten first to save the best for last, and when made with honey, the crusts are eaten last and used to scoop up the honey droppings.) mmmmm
Yes I am picky, but I know what I like.
PB and J?
Grape or raspberry jelly with creamy or crunchy peanut butter on challah bread. Mmmmm...
Hillary
Chew on That
PB and J?
I actually have a secret love... Uncrustables by Smucker. They are so yummy and you can take them anywhere and not have a squished sandwich.
PB and J?
I am so glad I am not the only one that enjoys a good pb&j. My previous roommates would look at me as if I was crazy when I would make them. Just because I had the genius idea to make one doesn't mean you have to hate me. At least, that's what I said. :) Mmmm, that's a good sandwich. Here's how I like it:
White/Wheat/Sourdough/Rye, toasted or not with:
~Strawberry JAM/preserves is preferred with no lumps (why are there BIG chunks of fruit in jam now?? Uhh).
~I will eat Strawberry/Grape jelly if nothing else is available (usually over my parents/aunts house). No lumps please.
~Fluffernutter is just delish
~Creamy/Chunky/Extra Chunky JIF. I LOVE them all.
~I will eat Skippy if I have to but that's about it, no other substitutions
~Pressed/Grilled-Banana, Peanut Butter, Cinnamon/Sugar mix, and Honey = mmmm
~Peanut Butter and Cheese sandwich
~I've been known to have Ritz/Saltine pb&j sammies a time or two
~Pb&j on a spoon
~FRESH ONLY. Sorry @ag3208. To me, a pb&j made ahead of time is the worst. That's why I never have them for lunch during the week. It's either dinner or lunch on the weekends.
@meg3j: That sounds great!! I am going to have to try that.
Ohhh, have you ever made peanut butter (you can add jelly/jam if you want) ritz sandwiches and then dip them in chocolate, then freeze/refrigerate. Oh my gosh. Soooo good.
Isn't peanut butter one of the best things, ever?
PB and J?
i love super chunky peanut butter paired with bacon.
when i don't have it on hand then i go with fruit compote or preserves.
PB and J?
Mmmmm. Chunk Skippy Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat bread, wrapped up for a while before lunch. It's never as good if you eat it right off the bat.
Peanut butter and potato chip (thin layer of potato chip) on whole wheat.
Definitely PB +S (Thanks @andrearode!)
But nothing beats slightly burnt rye toast with superchunky peanut butter.
PB and J?
@Cookie-- Nutella Panini with Raspberry Jam and Bananas.
Try it next time. It's amazing. Nutella is cheaper than PB here in France. Go figure.
What is your favorite cook's treat?
any crispy brown bits that are left over in the pan after frying anything...
the first bite of anything, before it gets to the table...
a few semi-sweet chocolate morsels from the bag, before pouring them into the cookie dough...
the middle brownie...
PB and J?
Mmmmmm - pb&j!!! We try to eat super-healthy, especially with me all knocked up, so it's whole-grain bread, lightly toasted, spread with peanut butter (I like Jif, but hubby grew up with the all-natural just-ground-peanuts kind and is appalled by that, so we compromise and buy the stuff that's lightly sweetened with honey or molasses and has no hydrogenated oils in it) and either chunky sour cherry preserves or strawberry or grape jelly (the sweetened with fruit juice kind). Love it! Perfect snack or works for any meal.
@pjracz - I am with you on the Nutella!! When I need a treat sometimes I toast a slice of bread and spread it on super-thin, and savor every bite with a cold glass of milk. YUM!
PB and J?
Creamy Jif or Skippy on Ritz crackers with Smucker's seedless raspberry jam
OR
Thomas' English Muffins, toasted with crunchy Jif and sliced bananas...gets all gooey and delicious.
(And no, I don't work for any of these brand name manufacturers...I just like to be specific about which kinds I like, 'cause there's definitely a difference!)
I can make ___ but I almost always buy it.
stock - I know it is sacrilege but the box kind is fine and always there for me in a rush. Tortillas are another thing I occasinaly buy because I don''t always have the time to make them.
luv2cook
What is your favorite cook's treat?
@TEXIE ~ Have not seen Fight Club. But I am okay with the bad one!
What is your favorite cook's treat?
my favorite cooks treat is not having to do dishes LOL Actually my favorite part of cooking a meal is when SO pours us some wine and "helps me cook" . As far as tidb
PB and J?
Give it to me all (with the exception of the marshmallow or any type of organ meats) and I will have a big silly grin on my dirty lil face. Doesn't matter what sort of breads, jelly/jams. I did not grow up with PB & J as a kid, I grew up with Nutella so it is always a big treat now as an adult to have this wonderful sandwich of yum. In France I had a PB & J that the bread was made with two pieces of french toast, that was pretty interesting and good.
What is your favorite cook's treat?
I like to eat the leftover veggies that used to make stock, skin from a roasted bird, I love the back flap of the turkey with some of the dressing still intact on it and dipping it in the leftover juices OMG that is so good. The serious charred bits of bacon leftover in the pan, actually I love to dip croutons into the bacon fat. I like to chew not swallow the crisp grissle of fat from steaks or pork and yes I always love to wipe the pot clean with bread from any sort of sauce or gravy that is made, I rule that mine, it just tastes so good
What is your favorite cook's treat?
After making a cheese sauce or bechamel, I always go back to the "dirty" pot with a piece of bread and scoop out all the wonderful sauce that wouldn't go when I was pouring it out.
My all time favorite is when I roast an entire head (or two) of garlic and I know that some of the cloves are going to look a bit too dark or weird to whoever is eating over. I pop those into my mouth and they're just like savory candy.
PB and J?
My brother got me hooked years ago on PB&J with Rice Chex cereal.in the middle
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About SaraGarrigan
Website: http://valleybreakfast.wordpress.com
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
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Favorite foods: Breakfast
Last bite on earth:
Soft wheat bread, creamy peanut butter spread thinly on both pieces of bread, and strawberry jam in the center. Exquisite.